BEEPERS ARE both bane and blessing of the modern world of telecommunications.These electronic pagers can get an important message to someone who's otherwise unreachable, and get it there fast. Their insistent, unregulated beep can also be a sure-fire disturbance and annoyance to meetings and households and public gatherings.The challenge for society is reasonable and thoughtful regulation of their use.Neither of which was exercised this month by Westminster police and by Carroll County school authorities.

- A week ago, the Ravens got beat by an old quarterback. On Sunday, they got beat by two rookie quarterbacks, one playing on one leg and the other having thrown only nine passes in his NFL career. The Ravens are in trouble. Big trouble. Not only did they lose to arch rival Pittsburgh last Sunday, but then they lost to the uppity Redskins in overtime in the Battle of the Beltway. Beep, beep, beep. That's the sound of the Ravens backing into the playoffs. That might be the only way they get there, especially with the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Cincinnati Bengals left on the schedule.

Meg Ryan is the cute-as-a-button center of "Hanging Up," a movie that, like most of Ryan's movies, ends up being more about her hair than anything else. As Eve, the surrogate mother in a wackily dysfunctional show-biz family, Ryan's emotional state is eloquently expressed by the condition of her famously tousled hair. The more crazed and confused she gets, the more adorably messy that hair becomes. You find yourself wondering, not what her character is feeling but what products she uses to get her hair to do that.

It was the cellphone heard 'round the world. A bouncy marimba ring tone on an iPhone erupted during the final soft, almost unbearably poignant minutes of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 at a recent New York Philharmonic concert in Lincoln Center. Music director Alan Gilbert finally reached his tipping point. He stopped the orchestra and turned to face a seemingly oblivious patron. The man, speaking anonymously to The New York Times as "Patron X," later said he had put his newly acquired iPhone on silent but had no idea an alarm had been set on it. When the offending device finally stopped, the conductor tried again to bring Mahler's wrenching 80-minute symphony to a proper end. While cellphone nuisances are commonplace wherever people gather for plays, operas and concerts, they rarely lead to a drastic mid-performance suspension.

By MIKE PRESTON and MIKE PRESTON,mike.preston@baltsun.com | October 13, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - To keep the Ravens focused in preparation for the Indianapolis Colts last week, coach John Harbaugh came up with a slogan: "We know where we are going, don't we?" But after yesterday's embarrassing 31-3 loss to the Colts, there was only one question: Where? Just where in the world are the Ravens (2-3) headed? In the previous four games, there was always something to build on, whether it was the play of the young offensive line, the development of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco or the constant improvement of a strong running game.

Both Anne Siejack and her 17-year-old daughter, Jacque, are busy people. So when they need to get in touch with each other, they reach for the phone -- and beep each other.Pagers, while at times seen as symbols of the youth drug culture, have moved into the mainstream and are becoming the latest trend in teen telecommunications."Me being a teen-ager, I go out a lot and my mom works a lot," said Jacque, a senior at Dulaney High School. "My mom got it for me so she knows where I am."For Anne Siejack, who owns a bar and package goods store, having her daughter carry a pager provides a little more peace of mind.

Hey, what's that beep? Cell phone? Pager? Watch alarm? No, it's your wallet -- you left your Visa card back at the store.Yes, the beeping wallet, technology's latest effort to save us from ourselves. It works like this: Remove a credit card from your wallet, it beeps. One beep, like when the microwave has the Lean Cuisine ready. If the card isn't back in the wallet within 20 seconds, it beeps again, three times.This beeping continues intermittently until your card is safely back in the wallet or until five minutes have passed, whichever comes first.

History of a sort was made at Sunday night's Maryland Combined Training Association awards ceremony.When the awards were given to volunteers who have contributed beyond the call of duty to the organization, it was the first time that anyone knew of that a computer had received an award from a horse organization."

three flights up on calvert street, under my kitchen sink, a cricketdisrupts my sleep with manyan indomitable beep.becoming quiet when he hears me stirawake,he resumes his serenade with vigor,encouraged to think me the matefor whom he waits.perhaps i shall followhis tireless exampleand try for a reply:beep, beep.

The Baltimore Business Journal has a story about how some restaurants are preparing for the Grand Prix . The article is a premium available only to BBJ subscribers, but you can listen to the accompanying podcast , an interview of Bill Irvin, who with Patrick Russell, operates Kooper's Tavern, Slainte, Woody's Rum Bar. Celie's Waterfront Inn, the Chowhound Burger Wagon in Baltimore. Irvin tells interviewer Alexander Jackson that he and Russell have been planning for the Grand Prix for a long time but he's not sure every restaurant has been.

By MIKE PRESTON and MIKE PRESTON,mike.preston@baltsun.com | October 13, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - To keep the Ravens focused in preparation for the Indianapolis Colts last week, coach John Harbaugh came up with a slogan: "We know where we are going, don't we?" But after yesterday's embarrassing 31-3 loss to the Colts, there was only one question: Where? Just where in the world are the Ravens (2-3) headed? In the previous four games, there was always something to build on, whether it was the play of the young offensive line, the development of rookie quarterback Joe Flacco or the constant improvement of a strong running game.

The title of the CD -- Yoga in the Car -- made my editors laugh hysterically. And as I'm The Sun's resident yoga "expert," they asked me to check it out. The goal of the recording, by Los Angeles yoga instructor and cancer survivor Jen Swain, is laudable: to get people to chill out behind the wheel. But as I bopped around Baltimore attempting to do the exercises, I had to ask which was more dangerous: road rage or the risk of driving off the road? And if it's not safe to drive while gabbing on a cell phone, how can it be safe while doing neck rolls?

By Cassandra A. Fortin and Cassandra A. Fortin,Special to The Sun | June 17, 2007

Just as Robert Campbell finished counting to 10, his daughter, Jaden, stuffed Cuddlies - her favorite teddy bear - under a pillow. Then Robert picked up a stuffed dog named Casper and began to search for Jaden's furry friend. "Am I getting hot?" Campbell asked a stuffed Eeyore sitting on the couch, in a high-pitched voice. "I haven't seen Cuddlies in two years," said the 5-year-old in a slow, drawn-out voice that mimicked the Winnie the Pooh character. But Campbell didn't buy it. "Beep, beep, beep, beep," he said, as he lifted the pillow next to Eeyore and found Cuddlies.

It all started with a honking cabdriver outside the apartment complex of an irritated Annapolis alderwoman. Words were exchanged, complaints were lodged, meetings were held, and now, the alderwoman is mounting a charge against an annoyance familiar to every city dweller. She is drafting a bill that would make taxicab drivers subject to fines for honking their horns to pick up passengers. "I'm looking at what we can do. I'm living in a community that has been besieged," says Alderwoman Julie Stankivic, who declined to discuss the bill's details.

Restaurant coaster pagers - those clunky hunks of plastic that flash, vibrate and/or beep when your table is ready - are getting some new bells and whistles. After changing the technology little since the mid-1990s, makers are now hawking souped-up models that can do everything from tell time to play electronic games. And some firms are trying to expand their use beyond restaurant lobbies to stores, health care facilities and other places where patrons cool their heels. "For years ... the only thing there was in the industry was a coaster pager with lights," said Lisa Roberts, chief financial officer of North Carolina-based EPD Inc., which this year began selling a pager called the InfoCube with games, famous quotes and other information.

A Glen Burnie man has been charged with breaking into four police cars that were parked in front of officers' homes in the Glen Burnie area earlier this month.Charles Olin Tate, 18, of the 100 block Warwickshire Lane, also was charged with one count of breaking and entering.Police served a search warrant Thursday at Tate's home and recovered about $14,550 in stolen police equipment as well as other items taken from several other cars.Investigators said beginning Oct. 8,four police cars were broken into during the middle of the night.

From the Land of the Rising Sun comes another step on the road to the apocalypse: virtual pets. The little, egg-shaped computer games at the end of a keychain -- Tamagotchi (about $15, from Bandai Ltd.) and Giga Pets (about $10, by Tiger Electronics Inc.) -- have overrun Japan, and are now on salke (along with some new imitators in the United States. Retailers are hoping the craze continues here. To put them to the tes, we adopted pets out into two homes -- one with a real pet, one without.

HAGERSTOWN - The sign out front of the Four Points Sheraton reads, "Welcome, we have been expecting you," but the entrance to the Western Maryland hotel was anything but inviting yesterday. A snaking line of men and women dressed in the blue, black and gray colors of corporate culture had to pass through a metal detector or - if they triggered an R2-D2-like beep - undergo a hand wand inspection by security guards who were as serious as airport baggage screeners. More than 700 people endured the screening yesterday to catch a glimpse of Vice President Dick Cheney, who spoke at a breakfast fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett's re-election campaign.

One of the hottest toys this season isn't a video game, isn't powered by a computer chip, isn't tied to a hit TV show and is hardly hip. In fact, it just sits there and wobbles. Mighty Beanz - tiny collectible characters shaped like capsules, reminiscent of Mexican jumping beans and imported from Australia - have quietly emerged as one of the most-sought toys this season. With a ball bearing inside that makes them shake, the intentionally misspelled item is among the best sellers at major toy retailers such as Wayne, N.J.-based Toys `R' Us Inc. and Pittsfield, Mass.